Occupational Safety

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It’s no secret that the waning power of American unions has contributed to stagnant wages. But a new study suggests that this trend hasn’t affected just worker income. It also may have cost thousands of lives.

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has published the first U.S. industry consensus standard written specifically for the construction and demolition of wind turbines. ANSI/ASSP A10.21-2018 was approved in April by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ASSP is secretariat of the A10 Accredited Standards Committee.

Workers in the utilities sector are at a higher risk for serious injuries and fatalities (SIF) than other industries, such as construction, manufacturing and mining, according to a recent study by DEKRA Organizational Safety & Reliability. SIF is defined as life-threatening, life-altering and fatal incidents in the workplace.

OSHA said in a news release it has cited Michael Foods Inc., an egg processing facility based in Wakefield, Nebraska, for multiple safety violations after an employee suffered fatal injuries when he was struck by a dock leveler in September of 2017.

OSHA has cited EnviroTech Services Inc. – based in Greeley, Colorado – after an employee died due to lack of oxygen while cleaning the inside of a railcar. A second employee who tried to rescue the co-worker was also overcome, but survived. EnviroTech Services Inc. faces $64,857 in proposed penalties.

An arc flash that burned two contract workers at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant near Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee was not was not due to any equipment or plant-related issues, according to an investigation by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).